A LETTER FROM SHERIFF LEIS

SUPPORT THE JAIL INITIATIVE: THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTY AND OUR AGENCY DEPENDS ON IT

To All Sheriff’s Office Personnel:

In all of my nearly 37 years of elected office in Hamilton County I have never asked our citizens for any tax increase to support our operation. I am now asking them and you to support the proposed sales tax increase to fund the Hamilton County Comprehensive Safety Plan (jail) that will be on the November ballot. Public safety in our region, not just our county, depends on it and, in many ways the future of our agency. Without space to house inmates and the funds to operate a new facility we will not have the tools to provide the quality of public safety service our region deserves.

I encourage each and every one of you to vote YES in November and, between now and November, educate your friends, family, associates, and anyone with whom you have contact on the absolute necessity to build a new jail. No one in our community knows the crisis we are facing better than each of you.

As most of you know, I have been advocating the need for a new jail since shortly after taking office as Sheriff in 1987, for nearly 20 years. In the early nineties a jail was nearly a reality but the Commissioners at that time reversed their position at the eleventh hour. We had a serious overcrowding problem at that time and now we are in a crisis. Jail overcrowding has resulted in early releases, “process only”, huge expenditures for “temporary” housing at Queensgate and more recently in Butler County. Queensgate was meant to be temporary while a new jail was built, not a permanent facility; it has eroded to the point where it is dangerous for inmates and our personnel, plus the county must rent the facility.

I recently wrote a letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer containing specific facts as to why we must build a new jail. This letter was in response to one written by Commissioner DeWine who opposes the Comprehensive Safety Plan (the building of a needed jail) for what can only be political motives. I am attaching that letter to this message. Please read, copy it, distribute it, and discuss this issue with everyone you know.

Commissioner DeWine’s position on the sales tax for the Comprehensive Safety Plan puts several factors into play. If the sales tax fails, as he wishes, we will no longer house prisoners in Butler County, the Over-the-Rhine detail will be terminated, and lay offs of personnel are a real possibility. As you can see, Commissioner DeWine is not a friend of law enforcement in general and the Sheriff’s Office in particular.

I ask you to think about this also, a half cent sales tax increase translates to a very small expenditure over a year’s time and it is a small price to pay for safety and security. It will cost the average taxpayer Thirty-Three Dollars ($33.00) per year. Furthermore, a sales tax is paid by the region as a whole, a regional effort for a regional crisis.

YOU, better than anyone, know the crisis we face. YOU see and feel the effects of this crisis on a daily basis. It is our duty to campaign for the passage of the jail initiative so we and all law enforcement agencies in Hamilton County can provide the public safety service our citizens and our region expect and deserve.

As your Sheriff, and for the first time in my career, I am asking you and the citizens of Hamilton County to support the passage of the Comprehensive Safety Plan(new jail and more) in November.

Sincerely,



Simon L. Leis, Jr.
Sheriff